People just don't understand the importance of playing great defense.. they're not gonna outscore the mavs. Another thing, who is dirk guarding? He's having an easy time on both ends of the court.

Amen.

People would have a shot at figuring out the game if they stopped asking all the wrong questions.

Who can stop (fill in the name of the great scorer) isn't what you need to know.

The question is, where do you find the matchups that allow you to keep your worst defenders on the floor, and how do you keep key offensive personnel out of foul trouble.

Dallas is simply doing what they did to LA. Limit FT line penetration, make the most athletic big (Ibaka) spend all night chasing Dirk, negating his size.

Even better for Mavs, with Perkins on the floor, Dirk literally doesn't have to guard anyone.

Unless Durant can play extended minutes on Dirk, OKC is going to have big troubles. And the Thunder have limited scoring options, so I don't think they'll even consider an option that makes Durant work so hard on defense.

Picked up fouls by the basketful when he tried. He can't guard Dirk out on the floor. His nature is to body up and try to block. You can't body Dirk and stop his first step, not without great help defense.